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Alejandro (song)
For other uses, see Alejandro (disambiguation). }} "Alejandro" is a song written by Lady Gaga and RedOne in 2009, for The Fame Monster. The song was released as a digital download, along with "Dance in the Dark" as a promotional single on the United Kingdom's iTunes, as part of the count down for the album release. The song has become Gaga's seventh consecutive number one single. Writing and inspiration The song was written while they were in Amsterdam and Ibiza during the summer of 2009 according to RedOne. The violin solo played at the beginning of the song is an adaptation of the main melody of the only famous work of Vittorio Monti: Csárdás (or Czardas). In fact, the song progression is not entirely unlike that of a traditional Csárdás, starting slowly at first and ending with a fast tempo. With this particular song, she stated "I'm saying goodbye to all my past boyfriends..". In an interview, Gaga said that each of her songs written for The Fame Monster were all influenced by a monster. The monsters all take place in each song; for example, "Alejandro" was influenced by the "Fear of Men Monster." She confirmed this monster in an interview On the Record with Fuse. In the song, 'Alejandro' represents Alexander McQueen, 'Fernando' represents Fernando Garibay, one of the producers she worked with on the album and for The Monster Ball Tour, and 'Roberto' represents Rob Fusari, an old producer and ex-boyfriend. The lyrics talk about Gaga defending herself against a "harem" of Latin men and has a number of ABBA allusions, including a reference to their 1976 song "Fernando", which Gaga cited as one of her influences. Composition "Alejandro" is a mid-tempo song with heavy europop and disco influences, is an apparent homage to ABBA and Ace of Base. The Ace of Base influences are prominent in the beats of the song, the vocals and the melody and lastly, in Gaga's non-English accent while singing the song. The words are slurred in her mouth while consisting of an uplifting melody. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 80 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of B minor with Gaga's vocal range spanning from F♯3 to A4. The song has a basic sequence of Bm–D–F♯m–Bm–D–F♯m as its chord progression. Live performance :For a specific performance see "Live Performances". "Alejandro" was first performed on November 27 in Montreal for the first date of The Monster Ball Tour in 2009. The choreography included a simulated threesome with her dancers which caused a minor controversy in Ottawa. As of now, the song is included in the revamped Monster Ball Tour. She also performed the song on the 9th season of American Idol and on The Today Show. Critical reception Chris Ryan from MTV called the song a "lush paean to a love that's 'hot like Mexico'." Bill Lamb from About.com commented that the song "is a bit like Madonna's classic "La Isla Bonita" with a contemporary edge." Paul Lester from BBC felt that "Alejandro moves at an Ace of Base pace." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine also made an Ace of Base connection calling the song an homage to them. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic denoted the song as an "updated ABBA revision". Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times called it bubbly and compared the style to ABBA. Ben Patashnik from NME called the song light-hearted. Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone called it a "loving ABBA spoof". Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork Media noted that although "Alejandro" is a ABBA morph, "it comes off very modern, in part because U.S. pop and hip-hop is currently drawing heavily from Europop, hi-NRG, and dance music." Chava Thomas from The Argonaut gave a negative review, saying "'Alejandro' is the one low point on The Fame Monster. The song feels forced, and its Latin beat does not mesh well with Lady Gaga's style." Michael Hubbard of MusicOMH said that "'Alejandro' is brilliantly catchy, deceptively simple and wonderfully melancholy." Evan Sawdey from PopMatters said that Gaga's vocals sounded like those of Shakira's, in the chorus of the song. Sarah Hajibagheri from The Times called the song "painful Latino warble and a would-be Eurovision reject." Reference in popular culture *The song was featured in the "Mulholland" episode of Melrose Place, aired on March 23, 2010. *It was also featured on a commercial for the grand final of So You Think You Can Dance (Australia). *On June 1, 2010, Larry King Live had Lady Gaga as a guest star. A preview of the music video for "Alejandro" was played in the background, with a mixture of the music videos from "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Paparazzi", "Bad Romance", and "Telephone". Also throughout the episode, there were headlines stating, "ALEJANDRO MUSIC VIDEO PREVIEW". Lady Gaga's Webstore *Alejandro Prayer Candle Reading: NO LLAME MI NOMBRE ALEJANDRO (Translation: DO NOT CALL MY NAME ALEJANDRO) *Red Rose Ring *T-shirt Reading: NO LLAME MI NOMBRE ALEJANDRO (Translation: DO NOT CALL MY NAME ALEJANDRO) *The option of either: **The physical EP CD **The MP3 **Without the single. (Only merchandise) ﻿ Lyrics I know that we are young, and I know that you may love me But I just can’t be with you like this anymore, Alejandro She’s got both hands in her pocket And she won’t look at you, won't look at you She hides true love en su bolsillo She’s got a halo 'round her finger around you You know that I love you boy Hot like Mexico, rejoice At this point I’ve gotta choose Nothing to lose Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Alejandro I’m not your babe, I’m not your babe, Fernando Don’t wanna kiss, don’t wanna touch Just smoke my cigarette and hush Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Roberto Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro Stop, please, just let me go Alejandro, just let me go She’s not broken, she’s just a baby But her boyfriend’s like her dad, just like her dad And all those flames that burned before him Now he’s gonna firefight, gotta cool the bad You know that I love you boy Hot like Mexico, rejoice At this point I’ve gotta choose Nothing to lose Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Alejandro I’m not your babe, I’m not your babe, Fernando Don’t wanna kiss, don’t wanna touch Just smoke my cigarette and hush Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Roberto Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro Don’t bother me, don’t bother me; Alejandro Don’t call my name, don’t call my name; bye, Fernando I’m not your babe, I’m not your babe; Alejandro Don’t wanna kiss, don’t wanna touch; Fernando Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Alejandro I’m not your babe, I’m not your babe, Fernando Don’t wanna kiss, don’t wanna touch Just smoke my cigarette and hush Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Roberto Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro, Ale-Alejandro Credits Music *'All instruments played and programmed by:' RedOne *'Vocal arrangement by:' RedOne and Lady Gaga *'Vocal editing by:' RedOne and Johnny Severin *'Recorded by:' RedOne *'Engineered by:' RedOne and Eelco Bakker (from FC Walvisch) *'Mixed by:' Robert Orton Personnel *'Recorded at:' FC Walvisch (Amsterdam, Netherlands) *'Also recorded at:' Sonic Vista Studios (Ibiza, Spain) on July 24, 2009 *'Mixed at:' Studio 3 of Sarm Studios (London, England) Publishing Reference *The Fame Monster Booklet *MTV News *BMI | Repertoire Search Category:Songs Category:The Fame Monster songs Category:The Monster Ball Tour song